“More room for women at the top” in Australia #hwhtw

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 2011 was a big year for Australian women in business, but there’s more work to be done!

“A RECORD was quietly broken last month – several times over. On December 1, amid last year’s hectic round of annual meetings and shareholder votes, seven women were appointed to the boards of ASX200 companies – bringing the number of female director appointments this year to an all-time high of 60, one more than 2010’s 59.

“The next day, Helen Coonan joined the board of Crown – bringing the total to 61. Sharon Doyle joining Cabcharge took it to 62 later in the month – then there were another three before Christmas, bringing the total to 65. It signed off a year in which women accounted for 40 per cent of new board appointments to ASX50 companies – to now make up almost 19 per cent of all ASX50 directors.

“While still very much in the minority, women now have a bigger presence on big company boards than ever before. In terms of boosting diversity on Australian boards, it has been a year of ”real progress”, says Jillian Segal, an ASX and National Australia Bank director.”